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The new Superman Returns movie is out, and frequent Preaching contributor Gary Robinson has an article (at ChristianityTodayMovies.com) that talks about the Man of Steel in comparison to the King of Kings. Here is how he concludes: "I've found but a single Superman story to approach the true gospel message. It's in a 2000 graphic novel, Mann and Superman. The plot is simple: Small time crook Marty Mann heists a priceless gem with the power to grant a man's fondest wish. Marty wishes to be Superman. One body-switch later, Superman finds he has become a loser with unpaid bills and a contemptuous son. He first struggles with his predicament, then decides to turn Marty's life around from within his own body. "Meanwhile, with the Man of Steel's muscles, Marty has the power and exaltation he's always wanted -- but remains a failure. Superman, however, has made Marty a man worthy of his son's respect. The tale ends with a chastened Marty renouncing power in favor of a new life, a life made possible only by Superman's efforts in Marty's own weak flesh. "Sound familiar? It's reminiscent of the apostle Paul's Philippian poetry in the 'emptying' of the God persona and the eternal Son's assumption of ordinary manhood. The personal redemption that follows is as gospel a message as any tract. Like Marty Mann, we who follow Christ experience new life -- and more: Eternal life, sharing our Savior's glory. There will come a morning when we wake to discover we really can leap tall buildings in a single bound, when the glasses are off and the glory is on us. "That glory is ultimately what Superman represents. It's why we can hardly wait for his return to the big screen, and it's why, as believers, we anticipate a much greater Return. For what a fictional savior can never give us, Jesus will bring when he comes again. I can't wait." (Click here to read the full article.) http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/supermanpopsavior.html Michael
Duduit, Editor There will be no issue of PreachingNow next week. The next issue will be dated July 25. Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" (Michael’s blog) for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: The Forgotten Founder; Episcopal but not Anglican? TIP: Be sure to include "preachingnow@preaching.com" in your email address book; that will help insure each issue makes it to your inbox and not your junk mail file.
Ministry and entitlement In the Winter 2006 edition of Leadership, author Sally Morgenthaler talks about how ministry can fuel addictive behavior, drawing on her own difficult experience as the wife of a pastor who went to jail because of sexual abuse of a neighbor. In this insightful article, she notes: "Entitlement is the sense that one deserves preferential treatment for one's position or class. We normally don't think of pastors as having a strong sense of entitlement. Pastors are seen as givers, not as takers. They're shepherds, counselors, who visit the sick and weep with the bereaved. If someone dies while the pastor is on vacation, he comes home. "But here is reality. Well-meaning pastors can work 80-hour weeks and still not be able to please their flocks. When a pastor works so hard, only to be rewarded with conflict and dissatisfaction, the unrelenting disappointment can push even the most idealistic, well-balanced clergy to believe he deserves better. A large percentage of pastors enter the ministry because they want to give people what God wants them to have. However, there is a dark side: when a pastor gauges this primarily by the admiration and esteem he receives in return. To the congregation, he intimates: 'I will overwork to emotional and physical exhaustion; I will deplete myself and my family; I will be everything you expect me to be if you give me the requisite status, appreciation, and financial compensation in return.' "This unwritten contract is often the people-pleasing pastor's demise. He receives little appreciation and instead ends up depleted and resentful. The reason is simple: no pastor can fulfill all of a congregation's expectations. Congregations by their very nature are filled with sinful, unrealistic, needy people who will take whatever the pastor gives and still keep coming back for more. When these people in positions of power begin doling out helpings of criticism instead of admiration, the unwritten contract is broken. The pastor begins to simmer in a potent marinade of entitlement. "Entitlement is not an attitude becoming of a pastor, so he doesn't express it openly, not even to his spouse. It is his little but oh-so-acidic secret. Gradually, the acid eats into his motivation and into his soul: 'I've given the best years of my life to this congregation. I have no time for family, much less myself. My kids are growing up without me. I'm at church 70-plus hours a week, and I still make 25 percent less than the average Joe in my congregation. If no one is going to take care of me, I'm going to care for myself.' "At this juncture any addictive behavior begins to look really good. After everything he's done for his congregation, the people-pleasing pastor gives in to the feeling that he more-than-deserves the little piece of pleasure he's beginning to nurse on the side. Co-dependency has its price, and it isn't cheap. When a pastor gets tired of giving and not getting back, he'll find some way to make up the difference. It is only a matter of when." (Click here to read the entire article) http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2006/001/24.58.html
What would you like to see in a Preaching website? We are in the process of expanding and enhancing our Preaching.com site, and as we try to determine what additional features to include, we thought the best idea was to ask those who will use it -- readers like you. If you've never visited Preaching.com, drop by and take a look (www.preaching.com), then click here to take our quick survey and offer your own evaluation and suggestions. Or, if you prefer, just drop me a note at feedback@preaching.com, and let me know what kind of features and resources would be helpful to you in your preaching and teaching ministry. And thanks in advance for your input! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=645502338089
ILLUSTRATION: God the Father Does it matter what name we use for God? In the book Speaking the Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism (Eerdmans), Alvin F. Kimel talks about the name God has given Himself in the pages of Scripture, and why it is important: "Within Christian usage 'Father' is not just one of many metaphors imported by fallen sinners onto the screen of eternity. It is a filial, denominating title of address revealed in the person of the eternal Son. 'On the lips of Jesus,' Wolfhart Pannenberg states, ''Father' became a proper name for God. It thus ceased to be simply one designation among others. It embraces every feature in the understanding of God which comes to light in the message of Jesus. It names the divine Other in terms of whom Jesus saw himself and to whom he referred His disciples and hearers.' "Jesus names the Holy God of Israel Abba, 'Father,' thereby expressing, and indeed effectuating, the intimate inner communion between them, a unique relationship of knowing and love. 'No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son' (Matt. 11:27). By this historical address God is acknowledged as the hope, joy, ultimate source, and final authority in our Lord's life; by this address he is constituted as the Father. The dominical naming occurs within the being of the Godhead. It is an event of the divine biography, an eternal act of self-differentiation occurring in time. "When uttered by the incarnate Word, 'Father' (defined exclusively by Christ himself in the totality of his filial existence) is a created, performative word of eschatological power -- analogous, on a different level, to God's speaking forth the universe in Genesis 1 -- which eternally calls into being the One who loves his Son beyond all imaginings, beyond all conditions and limits. The Father receives from Jesus, through the power of the Spirit, his hypostatic identity as Father." (Click here to learn more about the book Speaking the Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism)
ILLUSTRATION: Abstinence, Avoiding Evil Former First Lady Nancy Reagan became alarmed by the abuse of drugs among young people during a campaign visit to Daytop Village, New York, in 1980. Later, when a group of students asked her how they could remain drug-free, she replied, "Just say No!" Critics disdained her "Just Say No" campaign as being too simplistic, and perhaps in some ways it is. Nevertheless, the Bible often tells us to resist temptation and sin by just saying No! Proverbs 4:14-15 says, "Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it." Romans 16:17 tells us to avoid those who cause division in the church. The apostle Paul told young Timothy to avoid profane and idle babbling (1 Timothy 6:20) and to avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing they generate strife (2 Timothy 2:23). While abstinence is primarily used in reference to sexual immorality, it's not the only situation in which the Bible teaches this concept. We're to avoid all appearance of evil, and there are many times in life -- sometimes many times during any one day -- in which the Lord's servants must just say No! (Turning Point Daily Devotional, 6/21/06)
ILLUSTRATION: Encouragement In the Dallas Seminary Daily Devotional for June 21, Chuck Swindoll writes, "In a cartoon strip some years ago a little guy was taking heat from his sister and friends for a newly found "calling" -- patting birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach, lower their little feathered pates to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought him no end of fulfillment -- in spite of the teasing he took from others. "What's wrong with patting birds on the head?" he wanted to know. "What's wrong with it?" his embarrassed friends replied, "No one else does it!" "If your niche is encouraging, please don't stop. If it is embracing, demonstrating warmth, compassion, and mercy to feathers that have been ruffled by offense and bruised by adversity, for goodness' sake, keep stroking. Don't quit, whatever you do. "I think many Christians are dying on the vine for lack of encouragement from other believers. Proverbs 15:23 says, 'A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word.' Isn't that true? It's a delightful thing to receive a good word just at your time of need. Encourage someone today. If God made you a 'patter,' then keep on patting to the glory of God."
ILLUSTRATION: Honesty Grandpa was always going on about the good old days, and the lower cost of living, in particular. "When I was a kid, my mom could send me to the store, and I'd get a salami, two pints of milk, 6 oranges, 2 loaves o' bread, a magazine, and some new blue jeans -- all for a dollar!" Then Grandpa said sadly, "You can't do that anymore -- now they got those video cameras everywhere you look." (Cybersalt Digest)
ILLUSTRATION: Change, Stagnation Erwin M. Soukup has compiled what he terms "The Seven Steps to Stagnation": 1.
We've never done it that way before. Soukup admits that "there's probably an eighth step, but we've never looked it up before." (Martin E. Marty, "Context," April 15, 1985)
"When properly administered, vacations do not diminish productivity: for every week you're away and get nothing done, there's another when your boss is away and you get twice as much done." (Dave Barry)
From the sponsor of this week's edition: Would you like help as you prepare to teach? Like most of us, you likely are time bankrupt . . . you wish you had more time to dedicate to the important commitments in your life. One way thousands of pastors have better invested time is by using Bible Navigator study software. Now one of the best-selling electronic biblical resources, Bible Navigator has a huge variety of materials and capabilities to enrich your sermons. It enables instant access to Scripture, commentaries, illustrations, Greek & Hebrew audio pronunciations and so much more. See what thousands of your colleagues depend on each week. Select from four editions of Bible Navigator starting at only $19.95.
The preschool teacher asked one of her young students if he knew his numbers. "Yes," he said. "My father taught me." "Good. What comes after three?" "Four," answers the boy. "What comes after six?" "Seven." "Very good," says the teacher. "Your dad did a good job. What comes after ten?" "A jack," says the little boy.
"It is no disgrace to start all over. It is usually an opportunity." (George Matthew Adams)
Words of Wisdom from the Corporate World I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key. Don't be irreplaceable -- if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit, and remove all evidence that you tried. No use being a fool about it. You are always doing something marginal when the boss drops by your desk. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done. When you don't know what to do, walk fast, carry a clipboard, and look worried.
And finally . . . Charmaine needs to find a different line of work, since robbery isn't working out too well for her. The 30-year-old woman was recently arrested for holding up the Chase Bank in Riverhead, NY. The first clue: she wrote her note demanding money on the back of a bulk mail envelope -- with her name and address still on it. She is being held on $20,000 bail.
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